8am: The title of Amir al-mu’minin has no jurisprudential justification and the Taliban do not have the required knowledge to justify their supreme leader’s title. Amir al-mu’minin means the ruler of all believers on earth. Political terminology for Muslims developed during the first three to four centuries of Islamic empire expansion. Click here to read
Foreign Affairs: For the last two decades, conventional wisdom in Pakistan held that an Afghanistan ruled by the Taliban would be a boon to Pakistan’s security. Islamabad has long supported the Taliban with the understanding that the militants could help deny India—which many Pakistani officials see as an existential threat—any influence in Afghanistan. But since
Daily Sabah: The Taliban are implementing public policies contrary to Islamic Sharia law, forcing Pashtun identity in a diverse society by eliminating non-Pashtun texts and disposing non-Pashtun identity from daily life. Such provocations by the Taliban brought controversy to the existence of a cohesive spontaneous national identity, which is crucial for the survival of a
Jason Criss Howk: This week I spoke with numerous anti-Taliban groups about their approaches to liberating Afghanistan from the Haqqani-Taliban terror regime. The echoes of Fall 2001 are easy to see, but will these efforts come to fruition? That most likely depends on two major factors. First, can the Afghans unite and build a nationwide
Al Jazeera: The doctrine of ‘sovereign immunity’ is being used to insulate state violence from legal liability. What better illustration of the perversities of “justice” under colonial modernity, than the grotesquely disparate treatment of Afghanistan versus the Vatican when it comes to exacting recompense for international crimes. Click here to read more (external link).
Michael Hughes: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government is likely to push Islamabad toward a more Western-friendly posture, including alignment with U.S. counter-terrorism efforts in the region and within Afghanistan. In addition, Pakistan’s new regime, with Washington’s help, hopes to improve Islamabad’s ties with New Delhi. However, it is impossible to predict if and to
Mohammad Naser Sidiqee via Fair Observer: Driven by ethno-nationalism, the Taliban are persecuting Tajiks who often find themselves at the sharp end of a knife or the barrel of a gun. Videos and reports of savagely violent killings, particularly of Tajiks have come to the fore. The Taliban has been engaging in indiscriminate killing in
8am: In a statement issued on the closure of schools for girls by Amnesty International with reference to Sharia, “It is not Sharia that forbids the education for girls, but it is the old fashion trick being played by Pashtun elites to gain political and negotiation power on the tables.” They are trying to take
The Hill: Our country incurred profound costs in the evacuation from Kabul that occurred just seven months ago. But, if the lack of any direct mention in President Biden’s State of the Union address is any indication, we seem to have entirely moved on — even before our mission was completed. After so many have
Michael Hughes: The U.S. approach to the conflict in Ukraine is starting to take on the contours of the operation the CIA launched more than forty years ago in Afghanistan, from the types of weapons being delivered to the extremist elements on the receiving end and of course the overriding objective – that being, countering